New Beginnings
by eebie
Summary: Things aren't always as bad as they once seemed. Starting a real life with knowledge of the feudal era is just one more difficulty Kagome will have to overcome.
1. The End

This wasn't how things were supposed to end. There was supposed to be a light at the end of the tunnel. The man of her dreams was supposed to return her feelings and they would ride off together into the sunset like any other modern day fairy tale. She wasn't meant to be left behind by everyone she had befriended and loved. She wanted to watch Shippo fall in love and get married. She wanted to see Sango and Miroku's children bashing each other's brains out. And she wanted Inuyasha to see her as Kagome and not just a reflection of her past self.

Three years had past since the day Kagome had fallen in the bone-eater's well. All of her eighteen years on life couldn't possibly begin to reflect the age permanently etched within her blue eyes. Not many girls can say she was a mother at fifteen. It may have taken Kagome some time to admit, but Shippo was her son. Granted he was her furry tailed son, but a son nonetheless. It was difficult at first to be responsible for someone else at such a young age. But Kagome had a lot of love to give and Shippo desperately needed someone. Living in the feudal era changed her own perspective on her modernized beliefs. In the era pre-dating women's lib, women younger than herself had their own flesh and blood children running around their feet. Although she wasn't quite ready to bear her own children, she was satisfied to call Shippo her son.

Time travel brought new meaning to the term jet lag. But for some reason, her exhaustion didn't stem from the travel itself. It was more or less caused by the slave-driver half-demon who was the self-proclaimed leader of her tiny, jewel-shard obsessed troupe.

The moment she saw Inuyasha pinned to the God tree she knew she loved him; from fuzzy ears to smelly feet her heart ached for his. Perhaps it was simply remnants of Kikyou's feelings that drove her to love the brash halfling with all her heart. Unfortunately, pinning her unrequited feelings on her past incarnation would be too easy for Kagome. It was bitter irony which lead Inuyasha to cling to the love he shared with the clay priestess, only to ignore the affections of the living priestess. What was more ironic was Kikyou's determination to kill Kagome. For in the end, wouldn't Kikyou eventually return to become Kagome? Or was it had returned to become Kagome and then rose from the dead to torment herself in a masochistic fury?

Kagome pitied the former priestess. Kikyou had suffered in life so much that her pain and suffering spilled over to torment her afterlife. Kikyou was forced to consume stray souls in order to manipulate her clay body into reenacting the motions of a priestess. Kikyou would never be able to experience the life of a normal woman as she had dreamed of having with a human Inuyasha. In a way she was grateful to the resurrection of her past self because it alleviated some of the pressure off her shoulders. If something were to go wrong, Kikyou would be able to correct her mistakes. After all, she was just a copy of a priestess and Kikyou was a copy complete with memories!

Shaking at the unforeseen direction her thoughts were going, she glanced at the corner of her bedroom where her school books were carelessly forgotten. Education had done nothing for her. Her real life lessons in the feudal era had surpassed her present day education in little ways that were much more important survival wise. Unfortunately, survival techniques evolved slightly beyond what she was accustomed to in 500 years. Dodging death threats from demons was no longer a sufficient source of income to put food on the table in the 21st century.

Everything was so different in the past. The feudal era was simply more alive. The people lived harder in their short lifetimes then modern people with their life extending drugs. The air was fresher without the putrid taint of pollution. The flowers seemed to possess far more vibrant colors without human interference on their genetic structures.

The adventure she had experienced in the past three years became much too addicting to a young teenage like Kagome. The death of Naraku brought an end to Kagome's life as she knew it. Her loyal and trusted companions were living their lives on the other side of the well while she was trapped within the futuristic technological pressures of life in the present. She often tried to find out what happened to her friends of the past. History books, ancestral scrolls, and human memories remembered nothing of her friends. Nothing remained to record the lives of Shippo, Inuyasha, Sango, and Miroku. It was funny to think that she would give up modern day comforts like running water for the chance to be eaten by some unknown demon.

The end of her adventure typically occurred on her eighteenth birthday. Exactly three years from the moment it all began. She cried for many reasons that night the well was sealed forever. She cried for her lost love from another lifetime who would never begin to see her as simply Kagome. She cried because Kikyou still possessed a sliver of her soul and she was afraid that she would never feel whole again. She cried for the memories of her dearest friends and how she would never see them grow old. She cried because all of it was all gone.

* * *

AN: I don't own Inuyasha … etc etc.

Revised: May 13, 2005


	2. Of Memories and Dreams

Shippo lay in the grassy meadow beside the girl from the future. It was a peaceful day, and he intended to enjoy it. Surrounded by a light floral aroma, his demon senses were content. He would ever complain about the hardships the small group had experienced while on the road, but he hadn't had much experience with peace in his young life. While his demon blood flourished under such a tumultuous environment, the childish side which was nurtured by Kagome whined pitifully for some quiet play time.

Time passed slowly in the meadow until the silence was shattered by Kagome's soft voice. "An elephant" she said while pointing up towards the sky. Shippo couldn't help but voice his confusion. "Right there" she elaborated. "See the long trunk to the left and the big hump towards the middle."

In the face of such steadfast conviction, Shippo could only agree to Kagome's declaration. He was slowly getting used to being introduced to foreign ideas and phrases from the future. It was then that he began to realize that if he couldn't understand what she was saying, perhaps Kagome couldn't understand some of the words and concepts he brought up. With this sudden epiphany, he worried about his relationship with the girl from the future. They were just so different. It wasn't even because he was a demon and she a human priestess. Although it was sometime difficult to understand why he sometimes reveled in the sight of blood in battle, she seemed to appeared to have understood when he had explained to her about his fox demon instincts. While he would never understand the sociological studies of human relationships of the future, he began to wonder if their distance in philosophical beliefs were simply part of the mother-son relationship they shared. For if he thought hard enough, he could remember his first mother found the scent of blood distasteful. It was more of a generation gap that spanned over 500 years. He was simply too young and well versed in the concept of ancient Japanese hierarchical ranking to conform to her modern beliefs of equality between the sexes, let alone between demon and humans. Being raised by the small group, the dynamics of the relationship between group members forced him to accept the equality of humans and demons. Sango and Miroku were every bit as powerful as Inuyasha and Kilala.

"Kagome" he said slowly as though he were testing each syllable to make sure he had the right pronunciation. "Will you love me forever?"

"Of course I will!" Kagome sat up suddenly and examined Shippo's facial expression to see relief stamped all over his forehead. She was slightly confused at what brought about the young demon's childish insecurities but decided to say nothing about it.

"Shippo I will love you in this era. I will love you in mine. And I will love you for all the years in between my son."

* * *

It was too bad there was never a pattern to the memories that would suddenly burst forth, disturbing the monotonous pattern of her life. Maybe she was meant to live in the past and she made a mistake returning to modern-day Tokyo. Although it felt good to remember the first time she had voiced her feelings and called Shippo her son, it broke her heart to realize that she would never see him again. It was just one more person she had left behind. One more person for her heart to miss.

As she walked towards the park on her way to work, the floral scent overwhelmed her dull human senses. She remembered how Shippo's tail would sway furiously in the presence of such calming scents and she missed him fiercely. She couldn't help but wonder what kind of man he grew up to be. Did he ever fall in love and get married to have children of his own? She worried about what happened to him. Demons' lifespan were rumored to be long and could only be shorted by violence. She often wondered what happened to the demons of the past. For if they still existed, the future hid them well.

Suddenly remembering that was running late, she began to pick up the pace and jog lightly to the library. With all the school she had missed, she had barely managed to get her high school diploma and was unable to pursue any high level education. Finding a job without a college degree was next to impossible in Japan. She was extremely lucky that Ayumi's aunt had been "getting on in years" and offered her a job as the assistant librarian. Not exactly glamorous compared to shard hunting, but it paid her bills and fed Buyo.

"You're late again Higurashi" stated a dry, disembodied voice that seemed to originate deep within the towering shelves of books from the back of the facility.

"I'm so sorry Mrs. Kodama. There was this –"

"I don't want to hear it" cut off the elderly woman. "Simply finish up shelving those book in that pile …"

Whatever instructions the good Mrs. Kodama saw fit to give to Kagome were lost and Kagome's eyes fell across the Velveteen Rabbit at the top of the pile. It had been Shippo's favorite book and she loved reading it to him by the campfire. She began to remember how he refused to eat rabbit meat from that day forward just in the off chance that one of them had been the miraculous stuffed rabbit of the story come to life.

"Are you listening to me Higurashi? I want those books shelved by the time we open."

While Mrs. Kodama wasn't cruel, she was strict. She expected her assistant to comply with her demands complete with a friendly smile. Which Kagome proceeded to give to the woman with a small bow as she hurried to complete her new task.

"I will love you forever Shippo" she whispered under her breath to no one in particular as she fell into the tedious task of shelving old library books.

* * *

AN: I don't own Inuyasha … etc. etc.

Revised: May 13, 2005


End file.
